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Virginia is for Lovers, and this weekend NASCAR

April 27, 2012 by 3 Comments

Last week’s run in Kansas resulted in a nice win by Denny Hamlin, his second of the year by passing Martin Truex Jr. on the 31st to last lap and then hanging on for the checkered flag. Truex hung on for second while the rest of the top five was filled out by Jimmie Johnson and Greg Biffle.

Who would have believed that a little sunlight had that much of an effect on the race? For most of the race Truex was dominating in the cloudy weather and then as the conditions changed with the arrival of late afternoon sun, his car started performing poorly, becoming very loose while Hamlin’s #11 car had the exact opposite experience. Well they are once again under the lights this week.

Sprint Cup Standings
1) Greg Biffle
2) Martin Truex Jr. -15
3) Matt Kenseth -17
4) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -21
5) Denny Hamlin -23

The Track
This week they are running at Richmond International Raceway in the Capitol City 400 Presented by Virginia is for Lovers, a race that marks the 60th anniversary of racing at the RIR. The track is a ¾ mile D shaped oval.

Broadcast
Coverage begins at 7 pm ET on Fox

Twitter feeds
@RISinsider- Tracks official Twitter feed
@NASCAR-Official NASCAR feed
@NationwideNNS-Nationwide Official Twitter
@NASCAR_NNS-NASCAR Nationwide feed
@NASCARONFOX-Fox Sports feed
@AllWaltrip-3 Time NASCAR Champ and Fox announcer
@PRNLive-Performance Racing Network
@EdHintonESPN-ESPN Columnist Ed Hinton

Nationwide Series
The Nationwide Series also returns to the lights, this time on Friday night with the running of the Virginia 529 College Savings 250. The highlight of the race could be the debut of Travis Pastrana, at least he has been heavily touted by ESPN, which maybe not coincidentally is broadcasting the race.

Still he has taken an interesting road to get a car in Nationwide. He has been a winner at a variety of other tangentially related sports including supercross, motorcross, freestyle motorcross and rally racing.

He formed a partnership with Michael Waltrip to form the Pastrana-Waltrip Racing. He was originally expected to start racing last year but after one race was injured in an accident in the X-Games which put off his racing efforts until this year. It will be interesting to see how well he does and if his X-Games following will cross over to NASCAR. Anybody want to make a prediction?

Broadcast
Friday 7 pm ET ESPN 2

Nationwide Series Standings
1) Elliott Sadler
2) Ricky Stenhouse Jr -4
3) Austin Dillon -20
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -54
5) Michael Annett -64


Video of the week
Brad Keselowski is rapidly becoming my favorite racing personality. First he sends an in-track Twitter of an exploding race car and now I find this. He has a series of Q&As on YouTube that are just silly but well worth viewing, especially if you just need to perk up your day.

Filed Under: Athlete to Follow, ESPN, Fox Sports, NASCAR, Richmond International Raceway, YouTube Tagged With: , ,

NASCAR News: STP 400 this Sunday at Kansas Speedway

April 20, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Last Race
So what is it about Texas that the Roush Fenway team loves so much, the BBQ brisket maybe? They performed great at the track last year and continued with the winning trend when Greg Biffle captured the checkered flag at the Samsung Mobile 500. A fast race with very long periods of green flag racing witnessed Biffle break his long losing streak and with his strong finishes this season he could be the first driver to win all three NASCAR titles. He has already won the Truck Series and the Nationwide Series titles in past seasons.

Biffle edged by Jimmie Johnson late in the race while one of the favorites in the race, Tony Stewart, finished two laps down, hurt by the fact that his primary car out from a practice accident earlier in the week and a slow backup. The top five was filled by Johnson, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth.

This Weekend
This week they are back to running under the sun, with the STP 400 at the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway that features 15 degrees in the turns and 10.4 degrees in the front stretch and 5 degrees in the back stretch. The facility has a 72,000 person capacity and if you want to see video of past events, and other NASCAR races head over to YouTube.

Broadcast
Sunday, 12:30 pm ET on Fox

Twitter feeds
@Kansasspeedway- Tracks official Twitter feed
@NASCAR-Official NASCAR feed
@NationwideNNS-Nationwide Official Twitter
@NASCAR_NNS-NASCAR Nationwide feed
@NASCARONFOX-Fox Sports feed
@AllWaltrip-3 Time NASCAR Champ and Fox announcer
@PRNLive-Performance Racing Network

Sprint Cup Standings
1) Greg Biffle
2) Matt Kenseth -19
3) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -19
4) Martin Truex Jr. -20
5) Kevin Harvick -24

Nationwide Series
The Roush team did not just win the Sprint race; it also won the Nationwide race of Friday night with Rickey Stenhouse Jr. surviving a restart with six laps left in the race. This is Roush’s fourth consecutive Nationwide Series win at the Texas Motor Speedway, and that is quite something.

Paul Menard, who led the race for a total of 100 laps and started in the pole position came in second while the rest of the top finishers were Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin and Austin Dillon. For any Dancia Patrick fans, she had her best finish to date with a late race charge going from 13 into the 8th spot at the finish line.

Once again the Nationwide Series is taking a week off, and will next appear once again under the lights, this time racing in Richmond on the 27th.

Nationwide Series Standings
1) Elliott Sadler
2) Ricky Stenhouse Jr -4
3) Austin Dillon -20
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -54
5) Michael Annett -64

Dale Juniors’ Track
Ever wonder what drivers do at home? Well I cannot really tell you but here is an interesting look at the property that Dale Earnhardt Jr. lives on, and it looks like he has developed a nice dirt track where he and friends can go take a spin. Oh, it is also a car graveyard.

I like to think that he has BBQs and then has friends do impromptu races around the track, setting new records reaching what looks like a number of his and his rivals older cars stationed around the property. Head over here and see how many cars you can find in the photos on Yahoo.

Filed Under: Athlete to Follow, Contests, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Fox Sports, Kansas Speedway, NASCAR, Sprint, Yahoo, YouTube Tagged With: ,

NASCAR Under the Lights at Samsung Mobile 500 in Texas

April 13, 2012 by 2 Comments

LAST RACE
The results were either interesting or disappointing from Martinsville’s Goody’s Fast Relief 500 two weeks ago, depending on who you are rooting for and what you look for in a race. The race had its fill of last minute screw ups including last lap stalling, crashes and over time. When the dust and smoke had settled, but probably not the tempers, Ryan Newman was the victor.
The Top 5 Finishers

Ryan Newman
AJ Allmendinger
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Matt Kenseth
Martin Truex Jr.

THIS WEEKEND
Now the circuit has moved on to Texas for the Samsung Mobile 500 that will take place on the 1.5 mile oval track at Texas Motor Speedway. A quick reminder, the Nationwide race will be tonight (Friday) and the Sprint race is tomorrow night under the lights. I hope none of the Nationwide drivers are superstitious about racing on Friday the 13th!

Last year Matt Kenseth finally ended a streak of also-rans at the track by taking hoe the checkered flag, and with his solid performance last week has to be considered a top contender here again. In the Sprint Cup standings the drivers are still very bunched up at the top, with four tied for third place but the makeup of the drivers and teams has remained relatively stable from the last race.

BROADCAST
Sat. 7PM ET on Fox

TOP TWITTER FEEDS TO FOLLOW
I occasionally tap in to individual drivers twitter feeds but need to do so more often as some have very interesting things to sday, while others often sound like a PR team is pushing the comments out. Any recommendations on who to follow?
@NASCAR-Official NASCAR feed
@TXMotorspeedway-Texas Motor Speedway Official feed
@TMSTotalAccess-Brad Gillie-Texas MS All Access show
@NASCARONFOX-Fox Sports feed
@AllWaltrip-3 Time NASCAR Champ and Fox announcer

SPRINT LEADERBOARD-Race 6-36
1) Greg Biffle
2) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -6
3) Tony Stewert -12
4) Matt Kenseth -12
5) Kevin Harvick -12
6) Martin Truex Jr. -12

For the Nationwide O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 race the fastest lap was turned in by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. with a speed of 179.611 miles per hour in one of his practice laps. There will be an additional hour of practice this morning a few hours prior to the start of the race. The four top positions following Stenhouse Jr. are filled by Elliott Sadler, Paul Menard, Kasey Kahne and Joey Logano.
Last year the race was won by Carl Edwards, a feat that marketed a repeat performance by the driver as he won the event the previous year as well.

NATIONWIDE LEADERBOARD-
1) Elliott Stadler 214
2) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -18 behind
3) Austin Dillon -27 behind
4) Trevor Bayne -34 behind
5) Sam Hornish Jr. -54 behind

Hall of Fame Vote 2013-Your Vote Counts!
NASCAR has released its list of nominees for election into its Hall of Fame for 2013, with a slate of 25 people which will be honed down to five lucky people that will be honored by being selected for induction.

We are not going to list them all, you can just hop over to the site and see all of the people, with a succinct mentioning of why they deserve to be on the list. Of more interest to fans is that the can have a say by voting on the Class of 2013, so as they say in Chicago “Vote early and vote often.”

Filed Under: Fox Sports, NASCAR, Texas Motor Speedway, Twitter Tagged With: ,

NASCAR Running at Martinsville

March 30, 2012 by 1 Comment

The racing crowd, or at least portions of it, will be happy to see that we at MSR will be tracking the Sprint and Nationwide races a bit more each week starting with “Watching NASCAR this Week”, a title that is a poor imitation of our “Watching Golf this week” effort. The goal is to provide information on where the races are, when they are, and who is leading this week. The primary focus, at least initially, will be on the Sprint Series but we will add additional series as the season goes on.

Since much of the broadcast information is easily available from a local paper we also want to include on-line and mobile sources of information including some of the solid Twitter feeds that are out there so that if you cannot see this week’s races you can at least quickly and easily check to see who is leading and how your favorites are doing. Since this is very much a work in progress please feel free to drop us a line mentioning any Twitter feeds, bloggers or beat writers that you feel should be included in the roundup in the future.

THE TRACK-THE RACE
This week the teams return to Martinsville, with an April Fool’s Day race for Sprint for the Goody’s Fast Relief 500. Last year’s winner Kevin Harvick will be back behind the wheel to see if he can replicate last year’s results and possibly move up in the points standings. However on a short course such as this cautions and accidents lead to plenty of lead changes and drivers being unable to finish the race so it would be foolish to make an early prediction. For those concerned about the weather the forecast is for sunny.

The Martinsville track was founded in 1947 and has been running races every year since the NASCAR Sprint Series was founded in 1949. At .526 miles in length it is the shortest track on the circuit and so one that has a somewhat unique shape, sort of an elongated oval. The facility holds 63,000 fans and hosts four major races a year including the TUMS Fast Relief 500 as well as a NASCAR Late Model Stock Car race.

BROADCAST
The broadcast will be on Fox starting at 12:30 ET


ONLINE
Fox Sports NASCAR Page
Auto Racing Daily
NASCAR Home page
ESPN NASCAR page

TOP TWITTER FEEDS TO FOLLOW
While I am not rooting for a flaming crash like the one that occurred at the Daytona 500 where these was a first ever in race Tweet by Brad Keselowski that soared in popularity it would be interesting to get a driver to send a tweet of a pit stop, or maybe someone from the pit (Probably lose their job, however).

@NASCAR-Official NASCAR feed
@NASCARONFOX-Fox Sports feed
@AllWaltrip-3 Time NASCAR Champ and Fox announcer

SPRINT LEADER BOARD – Race 5 of 36
1) Greg Biffle 195 points

2) Kevin Harvick -7 behind

3) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -17 behind

4) Tony Stewart -18 behind

5) Martin Truex Jr. -20 behind

NATIONWIDE SHOUTOUT–
While initially the Nationwide races will not be a priority here, mainly due to time constraints, it is always well worth taking a look at the races and drivers. At the NASCAR.Com site this week there is a nice piece about how Elliott Stadler has been reborn as a driver in this series after more than a decade in the Cup Series.

NATIONWIDE LEADERBOARD–
1) Elliott Stadler 214

2) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -18 behind

3) Austin Dillon -27 behind

4) Trevor Bayne -34 behind

5) Sam Hornish Jr. -54 behind

NEXT WEEKS RACE:
There will be a one week hiatus-time to break out the Xbox!

Filed Under: ESPN, Fox Sports, Martinsville, NASCAR, Uncategorized Tagged With:

Daytona 500 History: First In-Race Tweeted Photo!

February 27, 2012 by 7 Comments

If you are watching the Daytona 500 live on Fox you may have seen the spectacular crash-and-explosion when Juan Pablo Montoya’s car skidded into a safety vehicle, blowing up a whole bunch of airplane fuel. When something like that happens the race is red-flagged, meaning the drivers stop on the course — and of course since it is 2012 driver Brad Keselowski took out his iPhone, snapped a picture and tweeted it:

Now kids — don’t tweet and drive, especially when you are going 200 mph. But when you’re stopped for a red flag? Go ahead, make social media sports history.

UPDATE: Jalopnik had a great breakdown of the moment in NASCAR and Twitter time.

Filed Under: Daytona 500, Fox Sports, NASCAR, Twitter

Daytona 500 Delayed — Could Pressure Next NASCAR Race

February 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Sunday's 200,000 fans not this dry

Sunday’s heavy rains forced a delay for the Daytona 500 race, the first time in the iconic race’s 54-year history that it has been delayed. Track officials waited over four hours before deciding that was not going to be a window of clear weather that was long enough to allow the track to dry off sufficiently to allow for racing.

The race has been tentatively moved to Monday but weather reports are not promising as the forecast currently calls for rain. It is likely that the track will wait much longer since any additional delays will make it difficult to reach Phoenix in a timely manner for next week’s NASCAR race.

For the office bound-look online for info

For racing fans there is still news to be had online. We listed a number of services that are being provided by the Daytona International Speedway last week but there are other online and social media sources for fans that might be trapped in an office during the race.

With the race being broadcast on Fox there is of course http://www.foxnews.com/sports/nascar/index.htmls web site that focuses specifically on NASCAR. With a lot at stake they will very likely have their finger on the pulse to see if the race does start at noon EST, or what time it is likely to start. ESPN of course also has a strong NASCAR presence at can be viewed at its site as well.

If you are looking to have a bit of input and possibly chat with other fans while at work, you can head over to Speedtv.com and join in the Twitter conversations that are ongoing or follow any one of a number of drivers Twitter feeds as they talk about the race and the rain issue.

Filed Under: Daytona 500, ESPN, Fox Sports, NASCAR Tagged With: ,
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